Oscar spotlight: Colleen Atwood

With the Oscars less than 30 days away (yes, I’m a loser who counts) I thought I’d start up a lil’ series about this year’s nominees. Not all of them, obviously, just the ones I find interesting enough to write about. Some of the info and people you may already know, others . . .not so much. Either way, I hope it shines a Movie Mazzupial light on a few of this year’s potential gong winners. To get the ball rolling - Colleen Atwood ladies and gentlemen!

When it comes to female Oscar powerhouses, people tend to think Meryl Streep, Maggie Smith or Judi Dench. But Colleen Atwood is also in their league. Colleen who? You say.

The American costume designer has been nominated for an astonishing nine Academy Awards, two of which she won for her work on Chicago and Memoirs Of A Geisha. Coming from a background in theatre costume design, Atwood has been the lead designer on over 50 feature films to date.But her Oscar nomination for best achievement in costume design this year has special significance as it marks her eight collaboration with visionary director Tim Burton. She first worked with Burton on his cult hit Edward Scissorhands in 1990 and so began a beautiful, artistic friendship. Atwood has sculpted scissorhands, crafted Gothic get-ups for Sleepy Hollow (above), gone monkey in Planet Of The Apes and added a blood splatter or twelve to gowns for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

And although her work with Burton on Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd garnered Oscar nods, the smart money is on Atwood’s whimsical designs from Alice In Wonderland to take the gong this year. After all, an Oscar seems only appropriate for a woman who has been bringing Burton’s fantastical imagination to life for over a decade.